Goofballs 4: The Mysterious Talent Show Mystery by Tony Abbott Read Free Book Online Page A

and find ourselves together without him.”
    Kelly stared at me.
    Mara stared at me.
    “Plus
maybe
we won’t get lost,” I said.
    So we followed Brian.
    And we got lost.
    We started by going upstairs to the second floor. There we discovered a hall with no lights and no doors. Then we found a hall with lots of doors but no lights. Then we found a hall with no doors but lots of lights. Then we found the stairway back to the front doors again and went right to the auditorium.
    “This is like a corn maze,” Brian said.
    “
Maize
is the Indian word for corn,” Kelly said.
    “
Corny
is my word for goofy,” I said.
    “And
mystery
is my word for that!” said Mara. She pointed to a sign outside the auditorium doors.

    “Friturday?” Mara stared at the sign through her big green glasses. “And I thought
I
had talent. Someone is inventing new days!”
    “Maybe it’s our first clue,” whispered Kelly.
    At the word
clue
, I pulled out my cluebook and scribbled it down.

    “It might just be a spelling mistake,” I said.
    “I sometimes misspell my name,” said Brian. “And
Brian
comes out
Brain
. But it’s not really a mistake. Because I really
am
a brain!”
    No one said anything for a few seconds.
    “Maybe,” Kelly grumbled finally. “But mistake or not, I’ve got my eyes on that sign.”
    “I’ve got my eyes on my face,” said Brian. “They’re easier to blink that way. Watch …”
    He blinked over and over and over.
    It made us all a little sick, but we couldn’t look away.
    Brian finally got so dizzy with blinking that he fell over. We helped him to his feet.
    “Come on,
Brain
,” I said. “You can hurt your
Brian
that way.”
    “Me, too,” he said as we all entered the auditorium.

2

The Mystery of the Missing Talent
    T he auditorium was as huge as a football field. Except that it was indoors and had rows of seats from wall to wall and a stage big enough to land a plane on.
    Our classmates Billy Carlson, Joey Myers, and Tiffany Flynn were already there.
    Tiffany wore tap shoes that clacked whenever she took a step.
    Billy held a piece of rope. And Joey kept moving his lips and laughing to himself.
    Billy and Joey had figured in a couple of our mysteries before. They weren’t all that goofy, but they were okay anyway. Tiffany was pretty new in our class, so I hadn’t noticed if she was goofy or not.
    Finally, Violet Boggs walked onstage.
    Even though her name was Violet, she always wore pink from head to toe.
    “I’m going to the opening of Pinkworld next week,” she said. “It’s a store that sells all kinds of pink stuff.”
    Kelly looked her up and down. “Is there any left?”
    “Some,” said Violet. “I’m getting it.”

    Then Violet dragged a big lumpy thing to the center of the stage.
    It looked like a baby elephant on wheels.
    “Is that a baby elephant on wheels?” I asked.
    “It’s my pink tuba,” said Violet. She lifted away a fuzzy pink blanket, opened the case, and removed what looked like a pink smokestack attached to a pink radiator attached to pink bathroom plumbing.
    “Cool invention,” said Brian. “What does it sound like?”
    “Just listen!” Violet twisted herself into the tuba and puffed into the mouthpiece.
    BWAAAP!
    Brian fell over again. “Oww,” he said, rubbing his head. “I really need to rest my Brian.”
    “Plus it hurts my mind,” said Tiffany, slapping her hands over her ears.
    The curtain whooshed aside, and our principal, Principal Higgins, appeared on the stage. “Hello, children. I want to introduce Tabitha Rinkle, the director of the talent show—”
    All at once, a short, round lady with big red hair flew past the principal and bounced across the stage to us.
    “I am Mrs. Tabitha Rinkle, the director of the talent show!” she said with a big laugh. “Come to me!”
    We did. But Principal Higgins didn’t. He said he had principal stuff to do, and he left the auditorium.
    “As you know,” Mrs. Rinkle said, changing her laugh